Mr Briggs' Hat: The True Story of a Victorian Railway Murder (48 page)

238
rarely been
equalled
:
The Times
, 31 October 1864, p. 6 col. b.

239
there ought not to rest
:
Ibid.

239
a lurking doubt
:
Daily Telegraph
, 31 October 1864, p. 4 col. e.

240
to appeal to the Queen’s mercy:
Prior to Victoria’s accession, appeals went directly to the monarch. See Gatrell,
The Hanging Tree
, p. 201.

240
They were not unusual:
See Gatrell, op. cit., p. 207.

240
Mary Hartley’s death sentence:
The Times
, 27 August 1864, p. 12 col. b.

240
The consensus was that:
London correspondent,
New York Times
, 17 November 1864.

241
effect was … that of a slaughtering
:
‘Execution of Bousfield’,
Morning Chronicle
, 1 April 1856.

241
did
not answer their purpose
:
Cooper,
Executions and the British Experience
, chapter 4, p. 78 ff.

241
vigorously to be debated:
Today we are equally exercised by the question of how a civilised society is to behave and concerned about the example we sets to the rest of the world; particularly with regard to the justification of incarceration without trial (e.g. Guantanamo Bay), extraordinary rendition and the politically sanctioned yet secret torture of terrorist suspects.

241
deterred, or frightened or moralised
:
Thackeray,
The Paris Sketchbook
, p. 254.

242
Where is the reason
:
Thackeray, ‘Going to see a Man Hanged’,
Fraser’s Magazine
, vol. 22, August 1840, p. 150.

242
odious levity
:
Collins,
Dickens and Crime
, 1962, p. 226. For more on Thackeray and Dickens’ writing on capital punishment during the 1840s, see Wilson,
The Victorians
, p. 336 ff, and Barry Faulk’s opening essay in
Executions and the British Experience
.

242
abandoned his abolitionist stance:
Daily News
(5 articles), 1846, three reprinted in editions of Dickens’
Miscellaneous Pieces
.
The Times
(2 letters), 1849,
Letters of Charles Dickens
, vol. 5, p. 642 ff. See also Schwarzbach’s essay in
Executions and the British Experience
, p. 94.

242
crowd of thirty thousand:
‘The Great Exhibition of Hanging’,
Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper
, 28 February 1864.

243
a perplexing inconsistency:
Reynolds’s Weekly Newspaper
, 6 November 1864, p. 1 col. a.

243
a solid pyramid of facts
:
Daily News
, 5 November 1864, p. 4 col. b.

243
letters in their hundreds:
Letters from Home Office file HO 12/152/63401 (first bundle).

245
What he needed was new evidence:
Daily News
, 4 November 1864, p. 3 col. d.

245
Neither man was able to recognise the other:
The Times
, 5 November 1864, p. 9 col. e.

246
small token of our appreciation
:
MEPO 3/76, 8 November 1864.

246
his help in this case
:
MEPO 3/76, letter from Greenwood at the Treasury to Mayne dated 2 November 1864.

246
Jonathan Matthews wrote:
MEPO 3/76, 8 November 1864.

CHAPTER 31: CONDEMNED FOR A THUMBMARK

247
sold in their hundreds of thousands:
Hindley,
A History of the Catnach Press
, pp. 65–8. A similar pamphlet on the Road House murders was said to have sold thirty thousand copies, while execution broadsides in the 1840s regularly sold between 1.5 and 2.5 million copies. Copies of pamphlets relating to Müller are found in MEPO 3/76 and also, annotated by George Grey, in HO 12/152/63401.

248
Digance and HIS hat
:
MEPO 3/76, pamphlet ‘Has Müller been tried?’

248
James Walter Smith:
Daily News
, 11 November 1864, p. 2 col. e.

248
this kind of new evidence would demand a new trial
:
MEPO 3/76, 10 November 1864.

248
W. F. Finlason:
HO 12/152/63401 (first bundle), 11 November 1864.

249
most judges remained unconvinced:
The M’Naghten Rule, languishing behind science, was superseded by the Durham Rule in 1954 which set a precedent for diminished responsibility. I am grateful for the advice of Professor Ireland from Aberystwyth on the nineteenth-century legal attitude to the plea of insanity. See also Smith,
Trial by Medicine
, p. 107 ff.

250
any one of three verdicts
:
Stephen,
A History of the Criminal Law of England
, p. 175.

251
Ellen Blyth answered the question:
Müller’s Memorial. Also reported
The Times
, 9 November 1864, p. 10 col. d.

251
inveterate publicity-seeker and reputed fraud:
For example, newspaper clips from the
Norwich Argus
, February and March 1864, filed in HO 12/152/63401 (second bundle).

251
the chemist had made a statement:
Glasgow Herald
, 7 November 1864, p. 3 col. c.

253
decline to meet them:
Handwritten note on printed form of deposition in HO 12/152/63401 (first bundle, attached to Grey’s notes considering each angle of the Memorial).

253
sit
en permanence
:
For example,
The Times
, 11 November 1864, p. 5 col. c.

253
his warders … certain:
Daily Telegraph
, 12 November 1864, p. 3 col. c.

253
worthy of most serious consideration
:
Evening Star
, 10 November 1864.

254
obtained permission to visit Newgate:
A claim made by Donald Shaw in
London in the Sixties, with a Few Digressions, by One of the Old Brigade
(London: Everett, 1908).

254
no one has more strongly felt
:
HO 12/152/36401, Battiscombe’s letter, dated 10 November 1864.

255
sold for up to four pounds:
Preparations for the execution were widely reported. See e.g.
Observer
, 13 November 1864, p. 6.

255
a treaty of peace:
In 1866 Prussia went to war with Austria, establishing a swift victory. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1 resulted in the French conceding Alsace-Lorraine. Germany was united into a federal system in 1871 with the king now becoming Emperor (or Kaiser).

255
a Continental rival:
Wilson,
The Victorians
, pp. 350–1.

255
Opinion was growing in Germany:
Browne,
The Rise of Scotland Yard
, p. 167.

CHAPTER 32: CITY OF DEVILS

257
pea soupers:
See e.g. Miller,
Picturesque Sketches of London
, p. 243 ff.

257
Sir George Grey wrote that:
HO 13/108, dated 12 November 1864.

257
made his peace with God:
Daily Telegraph
, 14 November 1864, p. 3 col. b.

258
A private draft statement:
HO 12/152/63401, Grey’s handwritten statement, dated 10 November 1864.

259
Mullins stood on the scaffold:
The Times
, 20 November 1861, p. 4 col. g.

261
a great change has come over the public opinion
:
Manchester Guardian
, 9 August 1864, p. 4.

CHAPTER 33: ST SEPULCHRE’S BELL

262
amazement at the appeals:
HO 12/152/36401 (second bundle), 13 November 1864.

263
Richard Stevens:
Ibid.

263
Briggs family gave vent:
The Times
, 17 November 1864, p. 10 col. f. See GLPS reply and editorial,
The Times
, 23 November 1864, p. 12 col. e and p. 8 col. f.

264
strong force of police:
MEPO 7/25, Police Orders Book ‘Directions for Policing the Execution’. Taverns:
Daily Telegraph
, 14 November 1864, p. 5 col. c.

264
a network of bones:
The Times
, 15 November 1864, p. 9.

264
the full moon:
A penumbral lunar eclipse, which would be difficult to see even on a clear night.

265
the aldermen and sheriffs:
‘The Briggs Murder Case’,
Brisbane Courier
, 25 January 1865.

265
Crossing the yard:
Dickens, ‘A Visit to Newgate’,
Sketches by ‘Boz’
.

266
Populus
:
Thackeray, ‘Going to see a Man Hanged’,
Fraser’s Magazine
, vol. 22, August 1840, p. 150. Also Miller,
Picturesque Sketches of London
, p. 185 ff.

267
the stripling
:
The Times
, 15 November 1864, p. 9 col. c.

267
the slight, slow vibrations of the body
:
The Times
, 15 November 1864, p. 9 col. b.

268
beneath the flagstones:
Mayhew and Binny,
The Criminal Prisons of London
, p. 609 ff.

268
rest calmly in well-warranted confidence
:
Daily News
, 14 November 1864, p. 4 col. b.

269
sheriffs immediately relayed the news:
HO 12/152/63401 (second bundle), Newgate 14 November statement from Under Sheriff Septimus Davidson.

269
decided to seal up the papers:
The Times
, 15 November 1864, p. 9 col.d, reprised
The Times
, 16 November 1864, p. 10 col. d.

269
a letter sent to Dr Juch:
The
Daily News
was one of the first to report Cappel’s statement in its second edition, 14 November 1864, p. 5 col. e. The letter to the
Hermann
was printed in
The Times
, 22 November 1864, p. 5 col. e.

269
fence with words:
Dr Cappel’s letter to
The Times
, 16 November 1864, p. 10 col. d.